


The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer…

by MrsNesbitt



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: CHLOE IS AN ELF AND IT'S REALLY CUTE, Christmas, F/F, also, not affiliated with the movie Elf but There Will Be Elves, probably gonna be fluffy af
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 11:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5454731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsNesbitt/pseuds/MrsNesbitt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beca's little stepsister loves Christmas, and THAT is the reason she keeps bringing her to see Santa at the mall. Nothing to do with the cute redheaded Elf who works there too. </p><p>(Elf!Chloe AU in which Chloe loves Christmas and children and is too cute about it)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be a oneshot, but I decided that I wanted to actually post some of it. So it's not a super long chapter, but more is to come.

Chloe loved Christmas. It had always been her absolute favourite time of the year, ever since she was little. Everything about it made her happy; she liked the way people walked around town bundled up in coats and scarves and hats, their noses red from the cold wind. She liked the way coffee shops put out unbelievably sweet festive drinks; she loved the same old cheesy music that was played everywhere, every single year; but mostly she loved how, during the Christmas season, most people seemed to become as happy and cheerful as she felt all year round. She felt at home at Christmas. 

It wasn’t surprising, then, that when she found out that the local mall was hiring elves to work in Santa’s Workshop throughout December, she jumped at the opportunity. Of course, Chloe being Chloe, she got the job- completely stunning the somewhat cynical, decidedly un-merry team of people hiring the elves with her explanations of the goings on at the North Pole, and describing in detail each reindeer’s favourite thing to eat. It wasn’t so much that she could play an elf as she _became_ an elf, according to the employers, so she was in fact hired as Head Elf. Which, of course, Chloe was _completely_ over the moon about.

One of her first important duties as Head Elf was to help set up the Workshop, which involved putting together and decorating _fourteen_ artificial Christmas trees of varying sizes, arranging an animatronic polar bear family until they looked _just_ cute enough for Chloe’s standards, and covering the entire place in fake snow. Altogether, this endeavour took about seven hours, and Chloe’s team was at work until about 1am- a fact which none of the other elves were particularly pleased with as they grumbled their way through the decorating, but Chloe couldn’t see anything to complain about- spending hours creating a Christmas wonderland was sort of a dream come true.

Predictably, the night before her first official day at the Workshop, Chloe was much too excited to sleep. She tried so hard to fall asleep but her brain was far too preoccupied thinking about all the new friends she was going to make, and the fact that she was actually getting paid to talk about Christmas all day and make little children happy. The lack of rest didn’t bother her any, though, as she got out of bed bright and early and stopped over at Starbucks on her way into work, grabbing a gingerbread latté for a caffeine (and comfort) boost before the real excitement began.

As soon as she got to the area of the mall where the Workshop was set up, Chloe’s eyes widened in shock and excitement as she saw that a line of people had already formed, waiting for Santa’s arrival. Not yet being in her Elf costume, she allowed herself to quickly survey the people in the line, to try to get a hint at the kind of day she was in for. Since it was a weekday, she noticed that there were mostly either young parents or what appeared to be grandparents, with babies too young to be in school yet. There were a few toddlers here and there, and adults that looked like they were probably too young to be parents- but that wasn’t really Chloe’s place to judge. A few people in particular caught her eye as groups that she was looking forward to interacting with- there was an old man with twin girls in matching gingerbread man jumpers, whose eyes Chloe could see twinkling with love for his (she presumed) granddaughters. A few groups down was a very happy little boy, maybe 5 years old, whose little hands were being held tightly by two equally as happy young men either side of him; and just after them, towards the end of the line, was a young woman, about Chloe’s age or slightly younger, who Chloe spent slightly too long staring at to try to figure out. She was quite small, with long brown hair which, when pushed behind her ear, revealed a multitude of ear piercings- she was wearing large combat boots over skinny jeans and a tight tank top with an unbuttoned plaid shirt thrown over the top. She was probably the least Christmassy- looking person in the line. Instead of a handbag she had a black rucksack slung over one shoulder, because the other shoulder was being occupied by a little girl who was maybe 3 or 4 years old. And the thing that made Chloe stand and stare so long at this person is that no part of her outward appearance- the boots, the plaid, the piercings- matched the expression on her face as she talked to the child balancing on her hip, which was- and Chloe felt cliché even just _thinking_ this- positively glowing. The young woman was looking at the girl as if she had literally all the time in the world to listen to her speak, and seemed to be regarding her with genuine wonder and love.

Chloe realised too late that she had been staring perhaps a little too long and not as subtly as she had hoped when the girl in question looked up, saying, “Um, can I help you?”

Internally, Chloe’s response was ‘ _Shit!’_ but externally, she just threw on one of her brightest smiles and replied “Sorry! I was on my way to work and… I guess I got lost in my thoughts. I’d better run, you guys have a great day!”

As she was putting on her elf costume, Chloe was replaying the interaction in her mind, wincing at how her staring had broken the adorable private bubble that the two she was looking at had been sharing. Why did she always have to freak people out? The whole ‘admiring people from afar’ thing was, she now realised, slightly creepier in practise than it’s made to appear in books and movies. She put that out of her mind, though, put on her jingly hat, and headed to pick up Santa- because Santa needed an escort to and from the Workshop.

As she and Santa walked out together to find the other elf on duty already waiting at the gate, Chloe couldn’t help the enormous grin spreading over her face at the sight of all the children waving and shouting with excitement at their arrival. She could already tell this was going to be a great job.  

* * *

By the fifth or six child, Chloe was easily getting the hang of being Head Elf. The elves rotated their jobs, but the general roles were; if the line was particularly long, an elf was sent out to chat to the kids and keep them entertained (small children do _not_ appreciate standing and waiting around for long periods of time). Otherwise, an elf would be positioned at the gate to the Workshop, who would ask the child’s name and what they wanted for Christmas (Chloe had already worked up a signature way of saying “and what do **you** want for Christmas?!” which never failed to make the kids giggle before answering)- information which they would then discreetly pass along to Santa before the child got to him. Santa then knew the kid’s name- boom. Christmas magic. Chloe _loved_ seeing the look of wonder on the kids’ faces when Santa knew their names before they even told him- the little kids were very good at forgetting that they’d just told an elf a few minutes previously. 

An elf was required to take the photos that they offered to sell- and to make the merchandise containing the pictures if the parents so wished. The pictures could either be mounted in a frame, or cut and put into a bauble or a snowglobe for them to take home, and Chloe’s favourites were the snowglobes because little kids seem to genuinely think that snowglobes are magical.

So, all in all, there was a lot to be done around Santa’s workshop, and, whilst fun and magical, there was quite a rhythmic system to it that meant that, conveyor-style, the minutes and the children seemed to pass by very quickly. Chloe had seen most of the people she’d noticed earlier come and go- the old man with the twin girls who were, in fact, his granddaughters- Maddie and Tess, who had asked for a karaoke machine game and an easy-bake oven for Christmas (both requests that Chloe fully supported).  The little boy (Daniel) with the two young men (Daniel’s adopted parents) was especially precious, Chloe thought, as he hugged Chloe, her elf co-worker, and Santa very tightly both on arrival and departure, and even asked Chloe what _her_ name was, and what _she_ wanted for Christmas. As she handed him his snowglobe with his picture with Santa in it, after his visit, she could see his little eyes widen in glee, and she just about melted as he grinned a gap-toothed grin, waved and said “Mewwy Christmas!” as was led away by his equally as grateful and excited dads.

Chloe had been so distracted by Daniel and his dads, and making sure they had the best visit to Santa possible, that she hadn’t even noticed that the next people in the line, currently waiting at the gate, were the pierced combat-boot person, and the little girl who seemed to lighten her world. Chloe practically skipped over to the gate, bouncing to land down at the little girl’s eye-level, and said “Hi! What’s your name?"

The little girl beamed back, and squeaked out, “Olivia! And this is Beca!”, gesturing vaguely upwards in the direction of the older girl. Chloe briefly broke eye contact with Olivia to glance up at Beca, who smiled faintly back.

“I’m her stepsister. Her mom married my dad,” Beca clarified. Chloe raised one eyebrow at her, then turned her attention back to Olivia, who hadn’t stopped grinning.

“Hmm, so she’s your stepsister, huh?” Chloe leaned in slightly and stage-whispered, “like in _Cinderella_?”, pulling back to watch Olivia’s reaction, which was a brief gasp followed by lots of giggles.

“Noo _ooo_ , Cinderella’s stepsisters are ugly and mean! My stepsister is beautiful and nice,” Olivia confidently responded, smiling up at Beca, who lightly pushed her, rolling her eyes.

“Come on, kid, you’re gonna ruin my street cred! Can we at least swap ‘nice’ for ‘cool’?!”At this, Olivia just shook her head adamantly. Chloe could tell that they were very close, and watching them interact made her happy. She remembered that she had a job to do, though, so got back to the topic at hand.

She put on her most enthusiastic voice possible, reciting, “well, Olivia, what do **you** want for Christmas??” She watched the little girl’s face scrunch up in thought. Chloe thought it was sweet, as most of the children came prepared with a list that they could recite immediately; Olivia clearly had to actually stop and think of an answer to this question.

When she answered, “Umm. Some really cool headphones!” Chloe couldn’t help but notice her stepsister’s reaction; she looked slightly taken aback, but very pleased.  Chloe was curious as to why ‘headphones’ was so significant an answer to this question, but she felt like she should really move this thing along and let Olivia in to see the big guy.

She responded, “a very good choice. I’ll go see if Santa is ready to see you!” and headed off to tell Santa Olivia’s name and what she had asked for. 

When she returned to the gate, she found Beca crouched next to Olivia, showing her all the exciting things in the Workshop. She appeared to be pointing at the animatronic polar bears as Chloe approached, but Olivia’s focus was quickly drawn to Chloe as she squeaked, “can I come in now?”

Chloe beamed down at her and said “Olivia, Santa would _love_ to talk to you! Why don’t you follow me?” Then, aiming her gaze back up at Beca, added, “You can come, too- come with me,” and led them both inside the gate.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief introduction...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO NINE MONTHS LATER! I didn't have a baby, I just... got lazy. I'm sorry!  
> I was reminded of this fic, looked up the word document and discovered that I'd actually written a chapter and never published it, presumably because it's v v v v v v v short but I re-read it and thought, what the hell. Post it anyway.  
> I am not promising anything but I do have intentions to revisit this and hopefully finish it before Christmas so... watch this space?  
> <3

Beca wasn’t totally sure what to do. She hovered awkwardly just inside the gate as the elf took Olivia’s little hand in hers and let her up the step to Santa’s chair, asking her if she wanted to sit on Santa’s lap and glancing over at Beca by way of asking permission, who smiled, shrugged and nodded. Once Olivia seemed content with Santa, she backed away towards Beca, bringing her into the Workshop properly, leading her over to where their camera sat on the tripod, ready to take their picture when the time came. Beca felt a little awkward, not sure if she should be with Olivia and Santa, or staying out of the way; whether or not she should even speak to this elf whose name she didn’t even know.  
Beca decided to break the awkward silence, saying, “so, have you been staring at everyone who comes through here, or just us?” Which, Beca was satisfied to see, elicited a very slight grimace. She regained her composure quickly, though.  
Shrugging, she replied, “not everyone. Only the really cute ones.”  
“Dude, they’re little kids. They’re all cute,” Beca argued.  
The elf looked mildly surprised at Beca’s statement, and responded, “first of all, this gooey sentimental big sister thing does not match your Scrooge-like pierced/combat boot appearance at all. But that’s a good thing. Secondly, yes, the children are all cute. But did I say I was talking about them?”  
At this, Beca could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks, and cursed her pale complexion for giving it away easily. She could tell that she’d been caught blushing, but decided, true to form, to pretend that nothing had happened, saying, “Scrooge-like? Really? Just because I’m not wearing a stupid reindeer sweater on the 1st of December, I’m Scrooge?”  
She simply giggled in response, and began singing, “there goes Mr Humbug, there goes Mr Grim…”  
“Oh my God. Are you serious?”  
“If they gave a prize for being mean, the winner would be him!”  
Beca could tell that she was not going to relent, so, crossing her arms and leaning back slightly, she squinted and said, “You know, you do resemble a muppet.”  
Beca probably didn’t think this all the way through, though, as the other girl looked delighted at this declaration. In fact, Beca was pretty sure she might have actually gasped as she replied, “really?! Which one?”  
At this unexpected respnose, Beca’s eyes widened in alarm. “Wow. Um, no particular muppet? Your personality and… carriage? Just seem generally… muppetational.” Now Beca was cringing. Mostly at her use of the word ‘muppetational’, which probably clued the other girl into the fact that Beca wasn’t only familiar with the Muppet Christmas Carol, and must have watched The Muppet Show, too, at some point, to have picked up that particular word. She resolved to just stop talking.  
“Big muppet fan, are we, Scrooge?”  
“Dude, you’re the one singing a muppet song,” Beca responded.  
“Right, but you’re the one quoting the Muppet Show theme song at me. Also, “dude” is fine, but you could also call me Chloe, if you liked.”  
“I’ll call you Chloe if you stop calling me ‘Scrooge’.”  
“Deal.”


End file.
